Buying Filament Suggestions  

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

I have found that 3DSolutech makes great filament. It costs the same as the Amazon filament, is made in the US, and you can buy it through Amazon.

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

You do want to note the geographical area served by each supplier. I've found the perfect material a few times, only to realize it's priced us $AUD and not $US, and not even available where I am for a reasonable price when shipping is added.

Hi bobstro
As an Aussie I would like to know what good filament s you have discovered from Australia.
Cheers John

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

[...] As an Aussie I would like to know what good filament s you have discovered from Australia.Ah, sorry but I deleted those bookmarks. Can't recall now.

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

I'm still in for Makergeeks regular PLA/ABS/PETG. They have nice colors, pretty durable plastic and if bought in bulk with discount code for a really good price. If you print PLA hot, you get a really nice glossy finish.
The only downside is to get the filament once you placed the order. So far I always had to contact the support and always got the filament after 3-8 weeks. So it's more like a long term purchase.

And you consider that acceptable (or am I misunderstanding your meaning) ❓

I've seen some things I liked on their site (except the proselytizing 😡 ), but until they make a better effort to clear up their (IMO hypocritical) reputation and ongoing customer service issues, I won't be doing business with or recommending them. 🙁

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

And you consider that acceptable (or am I misunderstanding your meaning) ❓

Yes, it's acceptable for me. Every order was fulfilled in full. I wasn't fooled or scammed. It's known issue that the products they have available for purchase are not always available yet. So waiting time and conversation with customer service are very likely if you buy a big bulk of filament.

Don't get me wrong. I also buy from Matterhackers, Amazon or PrintedSolid if I need something special. But the regular go-to filament is still MG because of the price and quality of their filament. Everything else I tried for ~$15 (for example Inland PLA) is much worse.

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

My experience with Maker Geeks has been bad at times only due to filament not shipping immediately. I've had to wait up to 3 weeks before receiving it.
They have responded within a reasonable amount of time and apologized for the inconvenience. My ONLY complaint would be that they should show inventory levels when you place an order so that you can make other arrangements if they're out of stock. This is an ongoing problem. My solution is to order a month in advance of my needs. I'm sure this is not a solution for many people but it works for me.
The quality of their filaments have been consistently excellent.
I will also admit that I am trying to support a small U.S. company that is using raw material also made here.

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

I use MakerGeeks and have had no problem EXCEPT for the JULY2018 GeekBox not arriving yet.

Neal

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

My go to filament is 3d solutech. So far I have used the brown, black, white and gray. All print really well. No tangles or inconsistent diameter like I had with makergeeks and hatchbox.
Readily available on amazon

I use 3DSolutech as well and love them. Made in the US, for those worried about the trade war with China. It is cheaper than a lot and works just as well, or better, than the more expensive ones.

I have also used the Inland black PLA. Pretty good stuff, especially for the price. Not as good as 3DSolutech, but for the price it is great stuff.

I have sworn off MakerGeeks after the last order I received was NOT vacuum sealed and did NOT have any desiccant in the packs. Two different colors, both were that poorly packaged. I had to dry the filament out before I could even start using it. No thanks.

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

I hate to disclose my source, in case there is a surge in purchasing since the in stock at Amazon seems to have issues 😀 :D, but I have been experimenting and here are my thoughts...

Before my printer arrived, I purchased a 2.2KG spool of ColorFabb PETG economy from PrintedSolid.com and have been using it to print my LACK enclosure parts this week. Since I am a new user, I used the NGEN profile in slic3R PE and had a minor adjustment to Z value (0.005) and dropped the bed from 90C to 80C. It prints great and has low stringing and blobbing. Very easy, low-maintenance printing and the parts look really good. I was surprised and am very pleased with it and it was very economical price of about $27/KG and free shipping that is fast. The only downside is the spool is too large to use with the spool holder, so you have to rig up an alternative, which is not that hard.

I have some amazon PLA that I will try shortly and update on the results. I also purchased some of the Printed Solid PLA and real Colorfabb NGEN to check out and will report on that once I get some experience with it.

All in all, if these printers are dialed in they have little issue with printing just about anything unless you are trying to do something on the far ends of the capabilities. Even then, it seems like it is doable.

edited for spelling and formatting.

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

[...] it was very economical price of about $27/KG and free shipping that is fast.I love PrintedSolid and have had very good luck with ColorFabb materials. $27 is a bit above the real economical brands like 3D Solutech and Inland which go for closer to $20. If you don't mind paying more for quality materials, definitely put that spool of NGEN on. I absolutely love NGEN for the ease of printing and how it handles overhangs. Very good stuff. It's very forgiving of settings, and easier than PLA for some things. I did turn the fan down to 30% and have been getting very nice results with it.

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

I absolutely love NGEN for the ease of printing and how it handles overhangs. Very good stuff. It's very forgiving of settings, and easier than PLA for some things.

Yeah, but what IS it ❓ __: (Like a formula/chemical name?)

[RANT]
colorFabb says it's essentially Eastman Amphora™ AM3300.
Eastman raves about Amphora's attributes (including FDA compliance, but for what?) but neither colorFabb nor Eastman really says what it IS or what's IN it. All I've been able to find so far is it's "a polymer". Swell. Might as well just say, "It's PLASTIC, Dummy!" 😯 Wikipedia doesn't even have a page or reference.

But WAIT....! colorFabb also let it slip(?) that it's "part of Eastman’s Amphora range of copolyesters for 3D printing."
So, it's a copolyester, too! Dang, THAT'S helpful (NOT!) 😕 😆

Must be a conspiracy.... (Ooooooh!) __: 😮 __: 😯 __: 😕 __: 😎 __: 😆
[/RANT]

Enquiring minds want to KNOW! 😀

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

[...] colorFabb also let it slip(?) that it's "part of Eastman’s Amphora range of copolyesters for 3D printing."
So, it's a copolyester, too! Dang, THAT'S helpful (NOT!) 😕 😆
What I've gathered is that it's a copolyester in the same general family as PETG. I believe Matterhackers' Ryno is very similar. Which doesn't answer your question one bit, but is at least more data. I can say that it's definitely different than PETG, though the printing temps are similar. It prints well over a very wide range of temps. It prints well with minimal cooling. Bridges and overhangs are easy to print. It's supposed to be easier to finish, though I haven't tried much other than a coat of auto filler primer. It shows detail well, so is good for things like miniatures. It also has a higher temperature rating (85C) than PLA and most PETG, so it should be good (though expensive) for functional parts. "Easier to print PETG" gives a sense for how it is to work with. A bit of a write-up on copolyesters here.

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

[...] it was very economical price of about $27/KG and free shipping that is fast.I love PrintedSolid and have had very good luck with ColorFabb materials. $27 is a bit above the real economical brands like 3D Solutech and Inland which go for closer to $20. If you don't mind paying more for quality materials, definitely put that spool of NGEN on. I absolutely love NGEN for the ease of printing and how it handles overhangs. Very good stuff. It's very forgiving of settings, and easier than PLA for some things. I did turn the fan down to 30% and have been getting very nice results with it.

Bobstro:

You are correct and my math was a bit off... I was comparing it to Amazon prices for Colorfabb NGEN which is $41 for 750 grams from what I saw. That is a substantial price difference for what is in my limited opinion what seemed to be a very similar products.

The Colorfabb Econ PETG is $55 for 2.2KG from PrintedSolid which is where i got my $27/kg from, but that was not apples to apples. It actually works out to $25/kg for the Colorfabb Econ since it is 2.2kg as my math was challenged. Still $5 more per KG or 25% so it is something to consider.

I did see Solutech is $21/kg from Amazon and I will have to check that out since it has good reports here. I purchased a roll of Hatchbox PETG from Amazon which was also $21/Kg, but have not printed with it yet since I wanted to start with the good stuff to get a benchmark to compare the other makes against.

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

Check out shops that support this community first. I was surprised that MatterHackers had free shipping as fast as Amazon and some competitive prices. Printedsolid.com also competitive although their free shipping is 5 day. Atomic has a carbon fiber PETG that is very competitive.

If not in the US, look for local maker shops. Amazon isn't automatically the best deal anymore.

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

I did see Solutech is $21/kg from Amazon

Wow, that went up in a hurry. My spreadsheet from 9/16 shows 3D Solutech PETG @ $18/KG on Amazon. (Not a sale price). Still better than the $26 on Solutech's website (which price has not changed since 9/16).

C'est la vie...

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

[...] Wow, that went up in a hurry. My spreadsheet from 9/16 shows 3D Solutech PETG @ $18/KG on Amazon. (Not a sale price). Still better than the $26 on Solutech's website (which price has not changed since 9/16).
I expect you're going to be busy keeping your spreadsheet updated with the holidays approaching! 3D Solutech 1.75mm black PLA got down to $13.55 last September.

Are you familiar with the camelcamelcamel price tracker? You can use it to track Amazon and some other online prices over time. Here's the data for black 1.75mm 3D Solutech black filament. Rather than trying to continually update your spreadsheet, you could just link to the camelcamelcamel data for each one.

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

I expect you're going to be busy keeping your spreadsheet updated with the holidays approaching!

Nope. I said when I first mentioned doing this that it would be a snapshot in time. I did it for my own use to help me decide on suppliers to consider. It's done that. My original list of [tilda]150 got pared down to around a dozen. More keep showing up every week, but I stopped adding them unless I see something that really stands out (to me). So far, that's not happened.

I intentionally didn't want sales prices included--they're going to show up seasonally, inventorially (not a real word, but I think you get the gist), and some companies have periodic sales (annual, semi-annual, quarterly, specials, etc.)

For me, shopping for price comes when I'm putting an order together. There are still factors (in no particular order) of quality, customer service, terms (e.g. free shipping, returns), availability, and probably some that escape me at the moment...

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

[...] For me, shopping for price comes when I'm putting an order together. There are still factors (in no particular order) of quality, customer service, terms (e.g. free shipping, returns), availability, and probably some that escape me at the moment...
Ah, I must've missed some of your updates. Are you more interested in tracking individual filament prices, or finding good suppliers to shop with?

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

[...] For me, shopping for price comes when I'm putting an order together. There are still factors (in no particular order) of quality, customer service, terms (e.g. free shipping, returns), availability, and probably some that escape me at the moment...
Ah, I must've missed some of your updates. Are you more interested in tracking individual filament prices, or finding good suppliers to shop with?

Didn't I explain that above? 😕 I'm not sure how else to say it. My list was developed from a combination of the above factors. When assembling an order, I'll compare prices between those on my list, but the other criteria come into play as well. Life has taught me too often and too well that the lowest price (alone) can be more expensive in the long run.

I'm retired. I don't need the BS anymore. 😉

Re: Buying Filament Suggestions

One filament I have found to really like to warp is IC3D Orange PLA.